


A Balancing Act

by verxxotle



Category: Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: Angst, Clawen, F/M, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-04
Updated: 2016-03-04
Packaged: 2018-05-24 16:49:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6160161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verxxotle/pseuds/verxxotle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A prompt I received on Tumblr based on the phrase "I've seen the way you look at her/him".</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Balancing Act

**Author's Note:**

> Back with the secretly-dating A.U. - nobody’s gonna stop me from writing it. This is also my very first angsty prompt - it still has bits of fluff in it though.

After driving her white Mercedes through the winding roads in the forest for almost fifteen minutes, Claire finally reached his boyfriend’s secluded bungalow just before sunset. She stepped out of her car in her nude pumps, carried her purse on her bent elbow, held her MacBook in one hand and a thick stack of documents in the other, then slowly made her way to his front door as she gazed at the sky, watching the bright yellow orb make its way below the horizon.

 

As Claire unlocked the front door, removed her pumps and placed the items in her hands on the table, the aroma of pasta cooking in the kitchen infiltrated her senses. She walked into the bungalow’s modest kitchen, only to find Owen preparing dinner for the both of them. Pressing a light kiss to his temple, hands grazing across his broad shoulders, Claire whispered a short “ _Missed you._ ” into his ear. Owen then gave her a peck on the lips as an acknowledgement of her presence.

 

“Missed you too, honey. How’s work? The raptors were surprisingly being really cooperative with me today - which is why I came home early to prepare dinner.”

 

“Oh yeah? I’d say it was a long day at work today, Lowery was going on and on about how…”

 

Owen immediately cut her off and said, “Why don’t we enjoy our freshly cooked dinner before you ramble on about work? I’m assuming that you skipped lunch, babe.” He placed his hand against the small of her back and guided her towards the dinner table, then went back to the kitchen to grab the pasta and a bottle of wine.

 

* * *

 

After their dinner, Owen insisted that he would wash the dishes, telling Claire to sit on the couch and relax after the long hours she spent in the Control Room. She happily complied, however instead of _relaxing_ on the couch, she placed her MacBook on her lap and her stack of documents beside her and started typing out email drafts that she had not completed earlier in the day.

 

After Owen was done with cleaning up, he went through his movies collection in his study, intending to watch a movie together with Claire with the free time they had left for the day.

 

“Claire, wanna watch The Martian? It’s been weeks since we watched a movie together, may as well do so right now since we have nothing to do,” Owen called out towards the living room from the study.

 

As he got no reply from Claire, he assumed that she was in the shower - that is until he saw her sitting on the couch with documents surrounding her.

 

“You don’t understand the meaning of free time, do you, Claire?” Owen’s voice broke through the invisible wall that she built around her as she was typing furiously on her laptop. She looked at him in surprise, unsure of how she would reply him.

 

“Because from what I know, the only free time we have _together_ is in the evening after work. We barely get to see each other in the day because you don’t want people to get the wrong impression about us, and I totally understand that. _I do_ , Claire. But all I’m asking from you is to put your work aside and spend some time with me instead of rushing back to your paperwork and emails at home! This has happened many times before, Claire, and we’ve been talking about it constantly with you agreeing that we needed to spend more time together. But not much has changed, Claire, and I don’t think I can take it anymore.”

 

Owen’s thunderous words overwhelmed her senses, and no matter how hard she tried to form a reasonable apology in her mind, she could not overcome the immense feelings of guilt and selfishness that prevented her from muttering a single word in front of him.

 

“I adore you, Claire, and I love you more than anything else. But if you don’t feel the same about me and won’t at least _try_ making this mutual relationship work out by dedicating more time to _us_ , I think it’s best that we go our own ways from now on.”

 

Claire could hear the dejection in Owen’s voice, and all she wanted to do at that time was to hold him in her arms, kiss him and apologize to him repeatedly, but before she could even move a step closer to his body, he shot her a look of disappointment and anger, grabbed the keys to his motorcycle from the counter and stormed out of the bungalow.

 

She had never felt this lonely ever since they started dating.

 

* * *

 

Claire felt her heart sinking further down every time she took a step towards their bedroom, silently longing for Owen’s presence after their heated argument, desperate to clear things up between them. She took off her top, draped his large Rolling Stones T-shirt over her petite body, then climbed under the covers of the bed, breathing in Owen’s distinctive scent of sandalwood as she buried her face into the pillows. She tried her best to push away the emotional thoughts flooding her mind, hoping that the sounds of nature surrounding the bungalow would lull her into slumber. Minutes of tossing and turning on the bed forced Claire to sit up and pick up her phone lying on top of the bedside table, her fingers instinctively scrolling through her contact list and immediately tapping on the call button as soon as her eyes caught sight of Karen’s name.

 

Bringing up her phone to her ear, Claire became fidgety as the ringing tones of the call never seemed to stop. Just as she was about to end the call and told herself to call Karen once more in the morning, Karen’s concerned voice came through her receiver.

 

“Claire? Are you alright? You rarely call me at this hour, sis.”

 

As soon as Claire tried to start the conversation, she began to sob uncontrollably, hand cupping over her mouth and nose as she struggled to keep her whimpers as quiet as possible.

 

“ _Claire?_ What happened? Is Owen with you? Or did he do something to you, Claire?” Karen’s questions never ceased as Claire continued to cry through her phone’s microphone.

 

“Karen…” Claire spoke in a brittle voice as she started to regain her composure. “Owen… he didn’t do anything to me, I swear… I’m at the bungalow, and he’s not with me right now, because… it’s my fault. It’s my fault, Karen. I never wanted it to happen…” She let a sigh escape her lips before she hugged her knees to her chest.

 

It was Karen’s turn to breathe out, before she went on with her questioning. “Claire, you know you can’t blame yourself for every single thing that goes wrong. What exactly happened between you two just now? Because if you aren’t telling me about it, I’m just gonna assume that it’s related to your job.”

 

Claire always thought that her older sister was some sort of psychic - Karen could easily sense arising problems and their causes, and somehow she knew about whatever issue Claire was facing without even seeing her in person.

 

“It is… You saw it coming right? I mean, I’ve talked to you about it before, but… I’m still finding it really hard to find a work-life balance. Especially when I’m dating someone that actually likes me for who I am.”

 

Claire sniffed to hold back the tears welling up in her eyes, then continued, “Karen, you know that I’m not the best at dating and frankly I don’t really care that I’ve been dumped numerous times, but… I can’t afford to break this relationship with Owen - it’ll just be devastating for the both of us.”

 

“I know, Claire. I’ve seen the way you two look at each other during our video chats, and I can definitely tell that both of you are way more smitten with each other than Scott and I were on our wedding day. Which is _supposed_ to happen, considering how much of a jerk Scott is compared to the boyfriend of yours. I’d frankly be way more heartbroken to see you two separated than it was to see Scott signing those divorce papers.” Karen was trying her best to keep the conversation on the lighter side, not wanting Claire to start weeping over the phone again. Thankfully, Karen could hear her chuckling on the other end.

 

“Speaking of Scott… How are the boys dealing with everything after the divorce?” Claire couldn’t help but worry about her nephews’ wellbeing.

 

“They’re doing fine. They’ve been seeing him quite frequently, and I’m completely fine with that, as long as they’re happy with it. They did mention before that they wanted to visit you on the island though.”

 

“That’s perfectly fine with me. I’ll remember to have everything booked for them in the next few days.”

 

“Great,” Karen gave a simple reply. “So, back to Owen. I’m assuming he got mad at you because your work got in your way.”

 

“Yeah… He left the bungalow angrily after he saw me working on my laptop after dinner. I just had so many emails to finish writing and so many…”

 

“I know how busy you are, Miss Operations Director. All I’m saying is, that man loves you a lot and doesn’t want you stressed out over work. Trust me, he won’t break this relationship with you - all you have to do is take some time off work and spend more time with him at home. Just, understand your needs as a couple and have a work-life balance. Talk it out with him once he gets back home. You don’t live your whole life as an Operations Director, Claire.”

 

“I know.”

 

* * *

 

Claire dozed off minutes after ending her call with Karen, waking up the next day to the scents and sounds of coffee being made. _Owen._

 

She made her way to the bathroom and washed up before slowly walking towards the kitchen, mentally preparing herself for yet another round of arguments and apologies. Owen sensed her presence behind him, turned back to face her, greeting her with a “Good morning.” before offering her a cup of coffee.

 

“I uh, got some simple groceries from the convenience store last night. When I was out.” Claire knew that he was trying his hardest to contain his emotions. “Would you like a fruit and yogurt parfait for breakfast? It’s your favorite.” Claire felt a surge of affection building up within her body, and answered him with a small nod, finding herself speechless at his actions.

 

While they remained silent while he prepared her breakfast, he spoke up again, “I’m sorry, Claire, for raising my voice at you last night, and leaving you here alone. I frankly didn’t know what I was thinking last night and… I’m sorry. For everything that happened.”

 

Claire brought her hands up to his face and cupped his face, noticing the guilt written all over his face. “Owen… don’t be. I should be the one apologizing to you instead. I know you were just trying to loosen me up and get me to relax and to spend more time together, and I’m sorry for rushing back to work after dinner. I spoke to Karen last night, and I promised her that I’d find my work-life balance, because I realized that you’re more important than anything else.”

 

At her last words, Owen pulled her into his embrace and kissed the crown of her head, muttering out a soft “Thank you.” into her ear. Noting the time on the wall clock, Owen pulled apart from her and said, “You need to get going for work, Claire. It’s my off day today, I can get to you to the Control Room once you’re done with breakfast.”

 

“It’s alright - I’m just gonna tell Zara that I’m taking the day off too.”

 

It took a moment for Owen to take in what she said, before the both of them broke into smiles, spending the rest of the day together in the privacy of their bungalow.

**Author's Note:**

> My Ask box on Tumblr (verxxotle.tumblr.com/ask) is still open for more prompts!


End file.
